Personal Reflection

My role throughout the activity changed. Initially, I was to handle some of the online and coding responsibilities. Specifically, I was going to make a number pad for players to input codes into that led to various Facebook pages. However, these plans came unstuck.

Throughout the majority of the project, I was unable to contribute due to access problems with my QUT computer account. As a result, I felt that I had not contributed enough to the assessment, and instead recouped on this lack of participation by taking care of all the documentation. Whilst this task was quite dull and time consuming, at least I made up for my lack of participation in the previous weeks. In the concluding weeks of the project, I gained access to my account; however this was too late to really contribute to any of the creative outcomes. Disappointing.

Despite this massive encumbrance, Jemma (team leader) was understanding and agreed to the proposed documentation handling instead. Regarding group work, I feel we all worked harmoniously together, and no group disputes took place, which was a relief. Other than myself, all the work was completed as planned, when planned, which made the entire process far less stressful.

Throughout my studies at university, I’ve only experienced two group activities, and this one proved to be far more interesting than the other. As I had no ability to work on any creative components, I felt I hadn’t learned or practice as much as I could have. Still, playing through the game was interesting, and participating in the other team’s game was also great.

Whilst I might not be particularly interested in creating an augmented reality game in the future, this unit exposed me to a lot of previously unknown material, and that alone was enjoyable.

What is an ARG?

An Augmented Reality Game (ARG) is generally a multi-platform puzzle game. Often these require a community to co-operate, finding clues and solving riddles. Recently, ARGs have been used as a promotional tool for various forms of entertainment media, such as music, films and games. Successful ARG projects rarely identify themselves as games.

What are the strengths you can bring to this project?

Due to experimentation and subjects studied in high school, I have some basic knowledge of HTML/CSS coding. I believe this will be beneficial, particularly for the maintenance of the blog. As I am studying animation, I am capable of producing graphics to accompany the project.

What skills do you want to build upon doing this subject?

Pre-production skills, such as storyboarding and creating concrete ideas is something I need to work on. I hope by having to conceptualise my own ARG, these skills will be exercised and, in turn, improved.